Here at Envato we’re pretty famous for building a lot of successful blogs, like this one! We’ve done quite a few now, so last year I decided other people might find our techniques and systems useful. Today I’m really happy to announce my new book How to Build a Successful Blog Business which is a step by step guide to doing what we do, and it comes packed with case studies for our blogs including Mac.AppStorm! (more…)

This post is for all you workaholics who use a Mac for your full-time career. From to-do lists and digital clutter organizers to word processors and time trackers, we’ve compiled a list of all the applications you’ll need to stay productive and efficient at work.

Below you’ll find over 100 free and premium applications that will either fit right into your current workflow or revolutionize the way you get things done. Let’s take a look!

When I wrote about Leech a few weeks ago, I made a few comparisons with YazSoft’s Speed Download.

Some of the comments on that review asked why anyone would use a download manager when most modern browsers have excellent download management built in. I thought the answers given were quite convincing, and it seemed that quite a few people do already use such apps, or might be in the market for one.

The short version of my own feelings about Speed Download is that I’ve never gotten on with it, though I own a licence and have used it on and off for the past year or so. But since there is a demand for download managers, and since Speed Download is well-known and widely used, I thought it would be worthwhile giving it another look and seeing whether or not my assessment was fair.

Join us after the jump for a walkthrough of its capabilities, and my personal judgement of whether looking at it again has changed my view of Speed Download.

When you own a PC, you need to pay attention to things like defragmenting your hard-drives, installing and updating antivirus, antivandal and firewall software. If you switch to a Mac, you need worry a lot less about such things. I’m not saying you should be complacent, but things generally just work much more easily and straightforwardly.

Your Mac has built-in maintenance routines that run periodically, and – for the most part – you will have a simpler computing experience that requires you to spend much less time under the hood tweaking things.

If you’ve made the switch from a PC, one thing that you might find yourself wondering about is defragmenting your hard-drive. Today we’re delving into that topic, and taking a look at iDefrag. After the jump, I’ll walk you through the app, and conclude with some reflections on whether or not you need it.

Compartments by LittleFin is a home inventory application. In other words, it’s built to help catalog and track any and all of your worldly belongings, from software licenses, to furniture, to your brand new car.

Compartments doesn’t track anything purely financial, like loans or investments; it’s strictly limited to possessions, although those possessions can be digital files or information. It’s especially aimed at people who want to have a full inventory of their belongings in case of a disaster.

As LittleFin’s website points out, having a home inventory prepared in advance can mean less to worry about if an unexpected event should claim your house. Let’s take a look at the app, and see how it works!

If you’re one of those Mac users that loves to dig in and play with hidden features and settings, this post is for you.

Below you’ll find 30 tips and tricks to help both seasoned and beginner Mac users to get the most out of their OS X experience. We’ll cover everything from obscure Terminal commands to keyboard shortcuts that every Mac user should know and use. Let’s get started!

Earlier this year, everyone’s favorite blog editor announced a completely new version. MarsEdit 3 introduces a number of new and powerful features that address most if not all of the shortfalls we pointed out in a previous review.

Today we’ll give a brief overview of MarsEdit for newcomers. Along the way we’ll point out all of the new features and discuss how much they improve the overall experience.

We’re kicking off another giveaway today, to win a whole bunch of software from Yazsoft. This includes all three of their renowned applications; Speed Download, ShareTool, and Playback. Read on for more information, and to find out how to enter!

Keeping applications up-to-date on my Macbook is definitely one of my weaker areas. I tend to delay installing the Apple updates for as long as possible, especially if it requires a restart of the computer, and will then do a bulk install every couple of weeks.

Updating my applications, plugins and widgets often doesn’t even figure in my mind, unless prompted on launching said piece of software. But the problem with that is that a lot of OS X software doesn’t include an update checker.

From a security point of view this could possibly leave my Mac open to being infected or hacked through a loophole in one of the programs, which would have been fixed had I installed the update that I didn’t even know about.

AppFresh from MetaQuark aims to help solve that problem by providing a one-stop-shop for updating applications, widgets, preference panes and application plugins without having to even go looking for the updates yourself.

If the software is listed on osx.iusethis.com, then AppFresh will be able to look for an update, download and install it to your Mac and remove any old version if necessary….all with just the click of a couple of buttons. It can even grab official Apple updates. Keeping your software up-to-date needn’t be a hassle anymore!